Before I Jet

Well Santa comes a "Ho, Ho, Ho'ing" in just two days. We definitely got that winter storm this past weekend to make it feel more like Christmas. DB and I were out walking in the storm on Saturday night around 11pm. We were leaving a friends house and only had 1 block to walk home. Even though the snow was blowing in our eyes, turning our cheeks bright red and sinking our feet in the snow up to our calves, it was truly beautiful. Being the first ones to walk on the untouched snow was awesome. This is what it looked like outside my door Sunday morning.

There are steps under there somewhere!

While we are thawing out from the snow, my needles have been flying. I have spent the past two days furiously trying to finish up my Hemlock Ring. For those of you counting, that is definitely only one finished by Christmas. There is a good reason though, I decided to do some of the extended chart to make it a bigger blanket. Thus I used the other two hanks of yarn I had set aside for the 2nd blanket.

I call this blanket my sea creature. In it's folded up state it looks like an something you'd see frolicking around in the deep water somewhere.

Can you see how heavy this blanket is on the needles? That's over 800 stitches.

Finally, here it is in an unblocked state. I finished it up last night. I tried to take it to the Dry Cleaner this morning to get it steamed blocked, but the substitute cleaner guy looked at my like I had three heads. I decided that I will attempt to block it myself. However it will have to wait until I return from my holiday in NC. As promised to Marsha, I will get a picture of someone under it after it's all blocked to give you a perspective of the size.

I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas holiday! Safe travels to all who will be braving the skies or roads. I'm off to NC to be with my parents tomorrow morning.

P.S. If you ask me if I would knit this blanket again my response would be, "Not any time soon!". I am VERY happy to be done with it.

Some Say A Star

I say it's a Flower! That is in the middle of my Hemlock Ring Blanket. I've been working on this blanket for just over a week now and some real good progress has been made.

I just attached my second hank of yarn last night and have completed up to Row 51 of the Feather and Fan chart. The blanket is getting kind of heavy on the needles now and tires my right arm out a bit. I am generally getting anywhere from 5-15 rows done a day. I split my knitting time up between this and other projects because of the weight. Right now there are 440 stitches to be worked and that number increases every 5 fifth row.

I was asked how quickly this was really knitting up. I quote, "And please, when you answer this question, try to put your answer in terms of Normal Person Knitting Speed--not Speed-Demon Deborah's Knitting Speed.". Do I know how to answer that? Hmmm. I think what I have completed in a week could be done by a slower knitter in about 2 to 2.5 weeks. The yarn is bulky and on size 10.5 needles. That contributes to a quicker knit. Plus, once you get to the Feather and Fan chart there is 1 row of lace pattern and then 4 rows of straight knitting. Pretty easy since 4 out of 5 rows are knit.

I was also asked if I really could knit two for Christmas. To quote again, "Two before christmas? Really?". Ummm. Somewhere in my mind I imagine myself being able to complete two of these blankets before Christmas. I don't think that is just a fantasy rolling around in there. lol All my other projects are on the smallish side so I am hoping that if I work on the blanket alongside these other ones I could get both done. We shall see though.

C.S.K.

Can't. Stop. Knitting.

Yes I know my fingers are flying all over the place with all the knitting that is going on in my little ol' apartment these days. I guess this is better than pigging out on chocolate all day long, right? I really only have 5 weeks to get all of my Christmas gift knitting done. That leaves me with 1 week and 3 days to allow for shipping for said gifts to arrive in their appropriate destinations.

Right now the only thing I am knitting that isn't a Christmas gift is my Darling Boyfriend Sweater. Great progress has been made on that. I have one completed sleeve and the other is about half done. I could of had the second sleeve done over the weekend, but I got completely frustrated with the new hank of yarn I was using for it. Seems like this one was a dud. Every few inches I go there is a HUGE slub of yarn that has to be cut out before I can continue. Never fear though I will prevail and kick some yarn slub bootie!

That is a 27.5" long sleeve! DB has some looooong arms.

In regards to Christmas knitting, I started the socks I want to gift to one of my nephews. He has asked his mom why she hasn't knitted him socks yet. I told her I would take care of it. I am using my Vanilla Toe-Up Sock pattern. One sock is done and the other has some good progress on it.

I started a Hemlock Ring Blanket yesterday. I am planning on making two of these as Christmas gifts. I got the yarn I needed at $24 a blanket. Really an inexpensive gift that will hopefully be treasured for a very long time. I'm currently up to Round 41. Can you see the flower in the center?